1948 mortar shell unearthed near Western Wall

More than 60 years after it was buried, archeologists working an excavation in the Western Wall Plaza unearthed a completely intact 'Davidka' mortar shell on Tuesday afternoon.

Sappers who were alerted to the scene removed the shell from the site and documented the finding before transported it outside city limits to detonate the explosives in a controlled environment.

Largely ineffective, the locally manufactured three-inch Davidka developed by the Haganah prior to the country's inception is remembered more for the noise it made rather than the damage it inflicted.

The use of the Davidka and other similar models was phased out after the establishment of the IDF and the purchase of more sophisticated mortar shells, though many unused shells still stand at various monuments throughout the country.